Double Dare (Neighbor from Hell 6)

“Ma’am, this ID doesn’t match your boarding pass.”

Keeping her eyes locked on the bastard that she was tempted to kick the shit out of, she reached into her bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it over to the attendant.

“Thank you, Mrs. Bradford.”

*-*-*-*

“She’s still not talking to you?” Reese asked as he dropped down on the hard plastic chair next to him. He handed Darrin a bottle of water as they glanced around the gate.

“Nope,” Darrin said, shaking his head as he opened the bottle of water and took a sip, keeping his eyes locked on the woman that he wanted to throttle.

“Does anyone else know?”

He shook his head, finishing off his water while he watched Marybeth sit down next to Aidan. She hadn’t spoken to him since he’d forced her to make a choice. Not that he cared, because he didn’t, he told himself as he watched his brother throw his arm around her shoulders and pull her close so that he could kissed her cheek. She laughed at something Aidan said, earning a second kiss that had Darrin deciding that it would probably be for the best if he had one less brother to deal with.

“Does he know?” he asked, deciding that he should at least make sure that his brother was innocent before he beat the shit out of him and most likely dunked his head in a toilet.

“About you and Marybeth?” Reese asked with a thoughtful frown as finished off his bottle of water.

“Yes,” he said as his eyes narrowed on his smiling brother as Marybeth reached up and playfully ruffled his short hair.

Reese nodded. “For the past few years at least.”

“You’re sure?”

“He was with me when I walked in on Marybeth dropping to her knees and-”

He swore roundly, cutting his brother off. “I get the picture.”

“I’m glad that you do,” Reese mumbled as they watched Aidan kiss the top of Marybeth’s head. “You’re going to beat the shit out of him, aren’t you?”

“At the very least,” he said, getting up to do just that only to sit back down with a sigh when their mother walked over and joined them.

“They make such a cute couple, don’t they?” she asked with a smile.

Darrin automatically started to agree until he realized that his mother wasn’t talking about his brother Danny and his girlfriend Jodi, who were sitting across from them, but Marybeth and Aidan.

“I’m so glad she came,” his mother said, sighing with content as Darrin sat there, making a mental note to make sure that his mother got coal in her Christmas stocking this year.

“Me, too,” Reese agreed, noticeably trying not to laugh while Darrin sat there, fuming.

“They’re not a couple,” he bit out, wondering what was wrong with this woman. Marybeth had been his best friend since they were seven. If anyone belonged with Marybeth it was him and his mother should damn well be able to see that!

“No, but I think it’s only a matter of time,” his mother confided in a stage whisper that had him shooting a look of warning at his twin, daring the traitorous bastard to laugh.

“Why do you say that?” Reese asked for him, his eyes twinkling with merriment.

“They’ve grown so close over the years,” she said before she added a little sadly, “besides, neither one of them is interested in having children.”

“Aidan doesn’t want children?” he asked, mostly to distract himself when his stomach dropped at the reminder that he was never going to have children even as he prayed that it would stop hurting so damn much.

“No, he wants to expand the practice and travel and he doesn’t think that he’ll be able to do that with a family,” she explained in a resigned tone.

“Dad more than managed with us,” Reese pointed out and he couldn’t help but agree.

Their father had made a lot of sacrifices and busted his ass to make the practice what it was today, but the one thing that he hadn’t been willing to sacrifice was his family. Their Dad had always been up before the crack of dawn every morning, made phone calls to check on his patients while he made breakfast, helped everyone get ready, and made sure that they all sat down to breakfast together. At the end of the day, their father came home exhausted, stressed and sometimes upset over the loss of a patient, but he never showed it. He always made sure that they knew that they were the best part of his day.

“Because your father’s dream was to have a big family,” their mother said, sending him a warm smile as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, “just like yours.”

“That’s not my dream,” he said, looking up as his dream shot him another glare.

“One day you’ll find a wonderful man who will treasure you and make you happy,” his mother said with a sappy smile as he sat there, giving his head a little shake, sure that he’d misheard her.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” he asked, shifting his attention from the glaring woman to find his mother giving him a hopeful smile.

“It will happen one day,” she said confidently, giving his cheek a small pinch as he shot a horrified look to his twin to find Reese sitting there about to laugh until their mother turned her attention to him and said, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’ll find a good man one day, too.”

“What will happen one day?” he demanded weakly as they sat there, staring in horror at their mother, wondering, hell praying, that she was drunk, because otherwise they were going to have to start looking into places that could give his mother the kind of help that she so desperately needed.

“You’ll both find good men that will love you,” she said with a firm nod as she grabbed their hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

“Why the hell would we want to do that?” they snapped in unison as they sat there, glaring at the woman that had clearly lost her goddamn mind.

Her hopeful smile turned thoughtful as she thought it over again. “You still plan on getting married, don’t you? You can do that now, you know.”

“We’re not gay, woman!” he hissed, yanking his hand away from the psychotic woman that he’d once allowed the pleasure of cooking and cleaning for him.

She blinked up at him. “You’re not?”

“No!”

“Oh, you’re not?” she asked with a frown, and God help him if she didn’t sound disappointed. “Then why would Jason and Trevor tell me that?”